New Job Comes with $40,000 Salary Increase for Blind Brook's New Principal

As the new principal of Blind Brook High School, Gina Healy's salary for the 2010 – 2011 school year will be about $40,000 more than what she received as the principal of a middle school in Newton, Mass.

Healy was officially hired April 12 as the principal of Blind Brook High School. Her contract, including a salary of $170,000 for the 2010-2011 school year, will run from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2013.

As the principal of F.A. Day Middle School in Newton, Mass, Healy received a salary of $128,614 during the 2009 – 2010 school year.

Healy said the salary increase had virtually no impact on her decision to apply for and accept the principal position at Blind Brook High School. Her family was relocating to New York because her husband accepted a job in the Bronx in December.

"The market and salaries are different here," Healy said. "That was true in every district I applied to in New York."

Instead, Healy said one of the biggest factors in the decision to seek the position at Blind Brook High School was that she was looking for a district that shared her vision and commitment to high-quality education.

The Newton Public School system pays principals based on a a number of factors that include years of experience and education, among other variables. According to the Newton Public Schools Human Resources Departments, principals at the two high schools had a salary of $137,641 during the 2009 -2010 school year, middle school principal salaries ranged from $116,568 to $132,472, and elementary school principals from $107, 853 to $122,568. There were no changes to contracts or salary for the 2010-2011 school year.

The Blind Brook School District principal salaries are governed by a contract between the Board of Education and The Association of Blind Brook Administrators. For the 2010-2011 school year, these salaries range from $137,800 for the elementary principal to $170,000 for the high school. According to Blind Brook-Rye Union Free School District Superintendent William Stark, under the terms of the contract all principal salary increases are determined by job performance or merit basis and range from 0 percent to 6 percent each year.

The Blind Brook School District average salary is higher than Newton Public Schools, and the two districts are also in different areas of the country and are different sizes.

According to City-Data, the cost of living in Newton, Mass. as of December 2009 was 136.1, considered high on the cost of living index where the national average is 100. Rye Brook, in comparison, was 160.1 and is considered very high. The Newton Public Schools have about 11,600 students enrolled compared to Blind Brook's 1,500.

Healy and her husband have an apartment in Manhattan and she said she is not yet sure if they will relocate to the Rye Brook area, but at the moment they are enjoying the urban adventure of living in the city.

During her first year as principal, Healy said she hopes to develop a better understanding of the needs of the school and the community, and will try to strengthen the work of the professional learning communities.